U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage is ‘illegitimate’

The CCGS Amundsen, a Canadian ice-breaker, navigates near Devon Island in the Northwest Passage. Clement Sabourin/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Pompeo, who is an American politician and attorney who, since April 2018, has served as the 70th Secretary of State of the United States. He was a former officer of the United States Army and was Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from January 2017 to April 2018.

Now, the Secretary of State of the USA, says that Canada’s claim to the Northwest Passage is ‘illegitimate’.

That being the case, Pompeo’s statement is described as an ‘impressive rebuke’ to the 1988 Arctic cooperation agreement reached by Brian Mulroney and Ronald Reagan. Now, this is an important speech before the Arctic Council that the Canadian experts described as provocative and, often, inaccurate. That being the case, Pompeo offered his characterization during a broad speech in Finland in which he also warned against China’s increased presence in the Arctic, saying that it threatens the security of North America and that it could be harmful to the environment.

Also, Pompeo pronounced

Pompeo did not remain silent, in fact, he reiterated long-standing concerns about Russia’s military buildup in the Arctic and about how that is also considered contrary to US security interests.

That being the case, Pompeo said “Nobody denies that Russia has important interests in the Arctic”, Pompeo said in a transcript of comments distributed by the US State Department. “Nobody denies that Russia has important interests in the Arctic.” Similarly, he said, “We recognize that Russia is not the only nation that makes illegitimate claims, the United States has a long-disputed dispute with Canada over sovereign claims through the Northwest Passage.”

Meanwhile, Fen Hampson, who is head of the international security program at the Center for International Government Innovation in Waterloo, Ont, says the Pompeo brand of a long-standing disagreement over Arctic policy between Canada and the United States is an ”impressive rebuke” of the Arctic cooperation agreement of 1988 between the two countries.

More accurately, Hampson said, “It underscores the Trump administration’s ‘Trump application’ approach to relations between Canada and the United States”.